Fulfilling His Promise
by pingo1387
Summary: The remaining members of the Strawhat Pirates dock at their captain's hometown, and Nami visits a certain bar to fulfill one of his last requests. Takes place "after the end." One-shot. Character death(s) talked about/implied.


"This must be it."

Nami and Sanji brought the Sunny to a gradual halt in the little port, unknowingly where Shanks had done the same with his ship over twelve years ago.

"It looks so quiet," Sanji murmured, looking out over the small, peaceful village. "He really grew up here?"

"He probably had a lot of adventures up on that mountain," Usopp said, pointing to the towering landmass in the distance. Chopper stared at it with curious round eyes.

Brook chuckled. "I certainly don't doubt it."

Robin smiled rather sadly. "Can't you just picture him swinging through the trees like a monkey?"

The others laughed a bit at that mental image.

"Anyway," Nami said. She disappeared inside for a moment and returned, a huge sack slung over her shoulder. "He said she would be at a place called Party's Bar."

"Nami- _san_ , that looks heavy, would you like me to—?" Sanji offered.

Nami shook her head. "It's not that heavy. I'll only be a moment." She looked at Usopp and smiled. "Be right back, Captain Usopp."

Usopp smiled sadly and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Come on, I don't deserve to be called that . . ."

"Oh, yes you do," Nami said firmly. "You're in charge of a pirate ship, you're strong, and you're brave—what else would we call you?"

Usopp was silent. Nami leapt down from the ship, waved, and headed off.

Murmurs reached her ears as she walked down the street.

"Isn't she . . . ?"

"Luffy- _kun_ 's crewmate . . ."

"What's she doing here . . . ?"

Nami found the bar she was looking for after politely asking directions from someone. She pushed open the swinging doors.

The bar was empty save for three people. An old man with a cane and a striped conical hat was cradling a sleeping toddler while he sat at the bar. Behind the counter was a woman with short dark green hair. She and the old man were quietly talking about something.

The woman and the man looked up as Nami came in.

"Oh," the woman said softly. Her eyes were red from crying. "You're . . . one of Luffy's friends . . ."

Nami smiled softly and sat at the bar, setting the bag beside her. "Are you Makino?"

Makino nodded.

"It's good to meet you. I'm Nami."

They briefly shook hands and Nami turned to the old man. "You are?"

"Woop Slap, mayor of this town," the old man wheezed. "I'd shake your hand, but this one's got me busy." He looked at the sleeping child fondly.

Nami smiled. "Yours? Or . . ."

"Mine," Makino said softly. "The mayor's been very kind in helping me raise her."

"I see."

Makino bit her lip. "I'm almost afraid to ask . . . but . . . how did it happen?"

Nami, of course, knew immediately what she was talking about.

"He was dying," she said quietly. She had cried for him so much already that it seemed her well of tears had dried and she could now talk about him without the waterworks.

"He was dying from something even Chopper couldn't cure," she said. "He wanted to go out with a grand finale. Thankfully he actually talked about it with us before he went through with it."

She sighed. Makino slid a glass of _sake_ over to her.

"It's on the house," she said. Her eyes were wet. "Go on."

"When the Marines found us next, he just turned himself in," Nami said, staring into her glass. "Only on the condition that we'd be let go. They were so ecstatic about finally capturing the Pirate King that they agreed . . . and we went on without him."

"But you were all there for . . ."

Nami nodded. "It was horrible. We knew it was his choice, and if it wasn't this it would be that horrible disease, but it was still so hard."

Her hands shook and she took a gulp of the drink.

"Watching those swords just—" she made a motion with her hands to demonstrate. "That was the hardest thing we'd ever done."

Makino took a deep breath, trying to hold back tears. "And . . . Sabo- _kun_ . . . ?"

It was then that Nami's eyes grew wet. "He just . . . snapped. He hadn't heard about the disease . . . he must've thought the Marines had actually captured him."

Nami took another gulp of her drink. "He really lost it," she whispered. "I heard he was going crazy, killing anyone who even seemed like a Marine. No one could bring him out of it. The Revolutionaries had to . . ."

She bit her lip. "They let us have his fruit. It's been onboard with us for a while now."

She threw back her head and chugged the rest of the alcohol, setting the glass down gently so as to not wake the sleeping toddler in Woop Slap's arm. The mayor had tears in his eyes and Makino was crying quietly again.

"He wanted us to keep having adventures," Nami said. "And he said we could go back to our homes if we really wanted. We went and circled the Grand Line again, and Franky went back to Water 7. Chopper doesn't want to go back just yet, Sanji says he can't live at the Baratie anymore . . . Robin and Brook don't have anywhere to go back to . . . and Usopp and I need to stay onboard anyway to guide the ship to where it needs to go."

Of course, she didn't mention Zoro's name.

Makino stifled a sob.

"This must be so hard for you," she whispered.

Nami placed a hand on her arm. "What about you? You knew him long before we did."

Makino nodded. "It's sad . . . knowing I'll only see his smile again . . . in his wanted poster." She glanced at said poster hanging on the wall behind her.

Nami withdrew her hand and leaned down. "I'm sorry, I should get going soon. Do you know where we can find someone named Dadan?"

Makino nodded. "She's up on Mt. Colubo. She was Luffy's and Ace's foster mother."

Nami smiled and nodded, biting back tears. She brought up the huge sack she'd carried in with her and drew out a paper from her pocket.

"He wanted me to give this to you," she said, passing the huge sack to Makino, who took it in surprise. "He said something about a promise . . . but since he's not around anymore, we had to take care of it for him."

She handed the bartender the letter and headed out. "Thank you," she called as she left.

"Well?" Woop Slap asked, shifting the child in his arms as he tried to blink back tears.

Makino peeked inside the sack and gasped. Hundreds of gold coins and precious jewelry filled the sack to the brim—it must have been worth thousands or millions of beris.

She opened up the letter and read it once. She read it again and began to sob, waking up her child.

In shaky, messy handwriting, the letter said:

 _For my treasure tab!  
_ _—_ _Luffy_


End file.
